Plymouth Argyle’s winless run stretches to eight matches now, following their 1-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic, but what were the positives and negatives to take from the performance?

Three Ups

Plymouth Argyle's Yann Songo'o

Super Songo’o

When Bastille drummer Woody joined us on our podcast, #ArgyleChat, on Monday, he made the point that he felt Ryan Edwards and Sonny Bradley had struggled to perform as a pair so far this season.

With Bradley suspended on Tuesday, Edwards was partnered by Yann Songo’o at centre back and the big Cameroonian did his chances of an extended run in the first time the power of good with a superb performance.

He threw himself in the way of shots, blocked tackles and look like a man defending for his proverbial life as Wigan laid siege to the Argyle goal, but struggled to find a way through until their late, controversial penalty.

Such a performance deserves to earn him a run in the side, which will give Derek Adams something of a headache when Bradley returns from his three-match suspension.

League One table after the first ten games

Only way is up?

Defeat saw the Pilgrims crash to the foot of League One for the first time this season, so the good news for the Green Army is that Argyle can’t fall any further this season.

We are ten games in now and the table does tend to take shape after that amount of games, so can we take from it that this will be a season of struggle for the Pilgrims?

They have plenty of time in which to turn their fortunes around, but Adams remains convinced he has a squad capable of competing in the third tier.

After the success of last season, the expectation from the Green Army was perhaps higher than it should have been when, all along, Adams spoke about a season of consolidation.

It has been a bad start, that cannot be denied - and worse than many would have expected - but there are still 36 games in which Adams and Argyle can change their fortunes.

There is no better way to get the good times back than emerging as victors in a derby match and Argyle have two Westcountry derbies up next.

The first is on Saturday when they travel to Bristol Rovers, a team that are arguably under-performing having invested heavily in the laying side over the summer.

Argyle have already sold out their allocation for the trip to the Mem, so the Green Army will be out in force, ready to cheer their team on and hopefully end their poor run of form.

Then Exeter come to Home Park for a Checkatrade Trophy game which perhaps takes on more significance than usual given the circumstances of both clubs.

The Grecians are riding high in second place in League Two after a blistering start to the season but, with both managers having played weaker teams in the competition thus far, this is likely to have the hallmarks of a first-team squad game for players that need game time, rather than two first teams going at it hammer and tongs.

Three downs

Graham Carey hits the top of the crossbar late in the game between Plymouth Argyle and Wigan (Image: Dave Rowntree/PPAUK)

Lack of goals

This is fast becoming the biggest concern for Argyle fans and although the performance was much better in defeat at Wigan, Argyle again looked pretty toothless going forward.

The closest they came to an equalizer was when Graham Carey struck a free kick that clipped the top of the crossbar in stoppage time, but from open play, things were again at a premium.

Argyle have scored twice in their last seven league games now and one of those goals was a penalty by Carey in defeat at Walsall. When you take into account the number of goals they have scored from set plays, then Argyle have actually managed very few from open play thus far.

Plymouth Argyle's Gary Miller

Right-back worries

It is often said that you don’t realise the true value of a player until he is not there and that is certainly the case for Argyle’s Oscar Threlkeld.

The former Bolton Wanderers defender-cum-midfielder has not played since getting injured at Bristol City in only Argyle’s second match of the season.

Gary Miller has had an extended run in his place and has often come in for criticism from the Green Army, but even Adams had seen enough in defeat at Wigan.

Miller was booked early on and substituted before half-time to prevent him from getting a red card, but it was a tough night for Miller, who was given a torrid time by Michael Jacobs and Reece James down the Pilgrims’ right.

The worst thing about modern football is the lack of time mangers are given these days to turn things round and with only one win in 12 this season (OK, Argyle beat Chelsea on penalties as well, so you could say two) the pressure is building on manager Derek Adams.

To be in a situation where fans are calling for him to be sacked seemed unthinkable only a few months ago when, having ridden the crest of a promotion wave, Adams was regarded as the Messiah.

He had ended Argyle’s six-year sting in League Two, the fans loved him and everything seemed great, Now, there are accusations of dull, defensive football and poor tactics, there is an apparent lack of discipline within the camp and a worrying lack of points on the board.

Oldham and Gillingham two teams around Argyle, both sacked their managers this week and picked up points in midweek, but to dismiss Adams now would be wholly unfair.

Yes, things have to improve and Adams more than anyone will know that, but surely he has earned himself enough credit in a little over two years at Home Park to be given a chance to turn things around?